Chapter 160
Fortunately, the pork stir-fry was delicious. Ian neatly finished his portion of rice, and everyone cleaned up the table together.
The coffee they ordered for dessert was also passable. Maybe it tasted better because he hadn’t paid for it himself.
Anyway.
After finishing the meal, Ian went down to the parking lot with the two of them. It was time to reapply magic to the bike.
Of course, they didn’t use magic in the parking lot. There were so many CCTV cameras that using it openly would almost certainly draw attention. Most people wouldn’t know exactly what they were looking at even if they saw the footage, but the Administration Bureau was different. The masterminds behind those grand conspiracy theories would immediately recognize a mage’s handiwork the moment they saw the recorded video, and they’d come rushing in like mad.
Ian wouldn’t have much to worry about even if they caught him. Now that he’d already built a cooperative relationship with them, there was no reason to be concerned.
By contrast, Eunha and Yuna still weren’t that close to the Administration Bureau. So it was better to avoid anything that might draw unnecessary attention.
So the three of them rode their bikes to a sparsely populated place.
The low hill where Ian and Eunha had first met.
A shitty place that hikers didn’t even like, notorious for being overrun with bugs. The three of them stepped into the area, where even the road was barely paved and huge rocks rolled around everywhere. Yuna, who had been sitting behind Ian on the bike, got off with her legs wobbling the moment they stopped in the clearing.
“Y-You were too fast……!”
“The fastest I went was 80 km/h. Don’t be so dramatic.”
“80 km/h is s-speeding……!”
Yuna protested timidly as she took off her helmet. Ian shrugged.
“Compared to the crimes we usually commit, speeding is downright civilized.”
…….
Yuna was silenced by the mercilessly correct answer. She puckered her lips, then left her helmet on the back of the bike and plopped down on a nearby rock.
The mountain, now welcoming spring, was overflowing with a fresh, lively atmosphere.
Blooming flowers. Leaves swaying gently in the breeze. And, in equal measure, lots of pollen and bugs.
Compared to when they had come here in winter, it was definitely more alive, but he couldn’t help wondering if there could be too much of a good thing. It was better than summer, at least, but there were still way too many bugs.
“Huu…….”
Ian slapped away the bugs gathering nearby and took off his helmet. Soon after, Eunha arrived as well.
A classic bike with no fairing. Eunha rode over on her own rather large motorcycle, parked beside Ian, and killed the engine. The deep rumble of the engine died away, and she took off her helmet, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
“Huu…… It’s getting hot. Winter was still manageable, though.”
“It’s spring. I think summer will really be unbearable.”
Ian hung his helmet on the side mirror. Eunha also got off her bike, wearing a faint smile.
“In summer, you’ll have to buy and install cooling devices for both the bike and the helmet if you want it to be even remotely bearable.”
“They have those?”
“Yes. They’re really convenient if you have them. I used them until last year too, but mine broke recently, so I’m thinking of buying new ones. They’re around 500,000 won and 300,000 won each, I think?”
“That’s not too outrageous.”
“Yes. Not bad.”
Yuna tilted her head with an incredulous look as she listened to the two of them.
“I-If you’re going that far, wouldn’t it be better to just take a car……?”
It was an extremely reasonable point, but Eunha was the type to pursue romance when it came to transportation, so she lightly ignored her. There was no value in listening to the ramblings of some average Joe who knew nothing about the romance of bikes.
Ian felt the same. Before he started riding, honestly, he didn’t care, but now it was different. As long as no accidents happened, motorcycles were more fun than cars. And they were even safe, so there was no particular reason to buy a car when he already had a bike.
Maybe he’d buy one later if he ever needed it. At least not now.
Ian lightly tapped Yuna on the crown of her head and sat down beside her. Yuna looked at him with a question mark practically floating in her eyes, but he ignored it and asked Eunha,
“How many cc is your bike, Eunha? Mine’s close to 1,000 cc.”
“I’m in the over-liter class—1,300 cc. It doesn’t really have a brand; it’s put together from parts made directly by the cartel, so in many ways it’s different from Ian’s bike.”
“Oh…… How fast does it go at top speed?”
“They say up to 450 km/h, but in reality I’d never reach that. Even if the bike could handle it, I couldn’t.”
“Ah.”
That was true. Once you went past 200 km/h, just hanging on was hard enough. Much less her motorcycle, which was just a simple classic bike and not made for racing. She had no choice but to fight the wind resistance with her bare body. If she pushed it to 450 km/h like that, she’d probably be blown away.
Of course, that wouldn’t happen because accidents didn’t happen, but still, not crashing and enduring it were separate issues. In fact, being forcibly held in place instead of being blown away might be even harder.
Well, anyway. That wasn’t the important part.
“You know how the magic is done, right?”
Eunha said as she took out a marker. Ian shoved away Yuna, who was pestering him from the side, and nodded.
“Yes. Then please.”
“Yes. Please wait a moment.”
Pop.
Eunha opened the marker cap, crouched down, and drew a magic circle on the bike’s side fairing. The first time he’d seen it, he’d been horrified, but not now. He knew it would disappear anyway, so it didn’t bother him.
“God, protect the road we travel, and let our lives be used only for You.”
Kiiing.
As she recited the prayer, the magic circle glittered gold. Eunha lightly poured the wine she had brought over it. A sweet yet bitter fragrance spread softly through the air.
“And grant that we may partake of glory.”
Eunha closed her eyes and recited the final line. Then the glittering gold slowly sank along with the wine, and the magic circle disappeared as well. It might have looked like the spell had failed at a glance, but fortunately it had been completed successfully.
“Huu…… I’m done. I’ll use it on my bike too for a moment. Just a second.”
“Ah, yes. Take your time.”
Ian’s words drew a smile from Eunha, and she repeated the same process on her own bike. Once she had finished everything, she stretched and looked back at the two of them.
“Kruuung…… Puhah. All done. You worked hard today. Thanks to you, the contract went through safely, and we handled the mirror world just fine too.”
“You worked hard too, Eunha. As for Yuna…… I’m not really sure.”
“What?”
Yuna, who had been idly swinging her legs, pouted and timidly swung a fist at Ian. Ian casually batted her hand away and snorted a laugh.
“I’m joking, I’m joking. You worked hard too.”
“H-Hmph…… Don’t make, th-those kinds of jokes again…….”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Grr……!”
At his sly answer, Yuna swung her round little fist again. It had no force behind it at all, so even if it landed, it wouldn’t have hurt.
Eunha silently watched the two of them bickering, then flatly said,
“……You two seem close.”
“Huh? Ah, well…… We’re not awkward around each other. This guy’s a bit of a dork, but he’s not a bad person.”
“I-I’m not a dork! I-I have lots of friends!”
“Name them.”
“S-Shin Ian and. Shin Ian and…….”
“There are more people with the same name than I expected. I thought it wasn’t a common name. Hm…….”
“……Don’t tease me……!”
“……Haa.”
Watching Yuna, who was playfully mock-crying, Eunha let out a sigh.
An inexplicable discomfort rose inside her chest, surged up to her throat, and then sank away. She decided not to think about the cause of that discomfort. It wasn’t a helpful feeling anyway.
She picked up the bike helmet she had set aside and walked toward Ian.
“Then, Ian. If we get the chance, let’s meet again next time. Or you could just come visit our house.”
“Understood.”
Ian smiled and held out his hand to her. Eunha hesitated for a moment, then took it with a faint smile. Warmth spread gently across her palm.
It was too warm to let go right away. So after a brief hesitation, Eunha blushed faintly and laced her fingers with his. Ian flinched at the unexpected movement.
“E-Eunha……?”
“……Mm.”
“Eunha, that…… it’s a little sudden…… um…….”
“……Just a moment, like this.”
Ignoring Ian’s flustered reaction, she closed her eyes and wriggled her fingers. The writhing motion, almost like licking, made his pupils tremble.
At that moment, Yuna, who still hadn’t understood what was going on, stood there with her mouth hanging open before suddenly coming to her senses and prying the two of them apart.
“W-What are you doing?!”
“……Ah.”
“What do you mean, ‘ah’?! You were so natural about it I was the one who got shocked! Th-That’s sexual harassment, sexual harassment!”
Even Yuna, who said that, was unconsciously fiddling with Ian’s hand, which she’d forcibly pried away, but unfortunately neither Ian nor Eunha was in a state to care about that. Eunha stared blankly down at her hand, still warm, then flushed bright red and pulled the helmet she was holding down over her head.
Then she said quickly in a slightly flushed voice.
“W-Well then, I’ll be going! See you next time, Ian!”
She didn’t wait for a reply. Eunha hurried onto her bike as if fleeing, started it, and left the spot.
“…….”
Ian quietly watched her receding back, then opened his mouth toward Yuna, who was still fiddling with his hand.
“……How long are you going to keep touching it?”
“Eek!”
Yuna jumped and let go of the hand she had been kneading like dough.
*
Ian got home just as the sun was beginning to set. It couldn’t be helped, since he’d gone to drop Yuna off at her house first. Still, it wasn’t seriously late, so it didn’t matter much.
“Huu.”
He parked the bike in the mansion’s parking lot, activated the automatic lock, and went into the house.
Creak.
When he opened the front door, he saw one shoe tossed carelessly to the side.
A plain sneaker. But it was far too small to be Ian’s size. No matter how he looked at it, it belonged to an outsider.
But Ian wasn’t flustered. He knew who the owner of the shoe was.
‘Looks like they’ve already arrived.’
It wasn’t a problem that needed much thought. He took off his shoes and went inside, calling out the shoe owner’s name.
“Cecilia.”
“Ah, you’re here.”
A small voice came from deeper inside the living room. Along with it, the sound of soft footsteps drew closer.
The moment he stepped into the living room, he came face-to-face with Cecilia, who was wandering around barefoot. Ian was about to say something, then checked her hairstyle and frowned.
“……Why twintails? Did you suddenly want to get all cutesy?”
“The nun said it would suit me, so she tied it for me.”
“No wonder it suits you.”
Ian quickly switched gears and nodded. Cecilia let out a dry laugh and pointed at the sofa.
“The one you told me to catch. It’s over there.”
“Mm.”
Ian followed her finger with his gaze.
On the living room sofa, Mariang sat there like a little roly-poly toy, looking filthy. Ian’s expression soured on its own.
“……Why did you put her on the sofa instead of the floor? She’ll make it dirty.”
“I put her on the floor, and she climbed up there herself. It’s not my fault.”
“……Hah.”
Ian shook his head at the absurd answer. Regardless, Mariang was dozing off with a perfectly peaceful expression. She must have been quite tired. After all, she’d been battered around during the fight and even had her limbs blown off; it couldn’t be helped.
“…….”
Personally, he wanted to take a shower and even change clothes before she woke up, but he had an even stronger urge than that, so he simply couldn’t stay still.
“Step back for a second, Cecilia.”
“Ah, okay.”
Cecilia stepped back at his words, and Ian took out his phone, opened the camera app, and took a picture of Mariang’s sleeping face.
Then he immediately posted a verification thread to the community.
[Guys, I caught a mage named Mariang? Is this a good thing? I succeeded on the first try T_T]
He had to do what had to be done.